License and Registration, Please

Hi! Did y'all miss me? Because I missed you! 

(Corgi has nothing to do with the puzzle and I'm not sure what the source is.)

This puzzle has been in the works for longer than it needed to be, largely because I can't spell. It turns out that if you misspell something in your acrostic quote, it's not only really embarrassing (in my defense, I copied and pasted the quote) but it also messes up the whole puzzle. Some of you may say "but meatdaddy, don't you have a linguistics degree?" And the answer is yes, but as a Gemini, I contain multitudes, okay? [insert spiel here about medieval monks and the crapshoot that was orthography in Modern English manuscripts]

ANYWAY, a huge thanks to Alex for helping me troubleshoot this puzzle and my spelling errors, and to his acrostic generator for enabling me to make this. Another huge thanks for Norah Sharpe/Shannon Rapp, crossword extraordinaire, for the test solve and for helping me hone my puzzle craft.

Love it? Hate it? Streaming it? Does it make you wanna throw your Macbook in the East River and return to a hunter-gatherer society? @ me!

fullscreen solve

Lemme get uhhh... (kateschmate collab)

 

@corgi_shumai doing a semi-spoiler

To all my girls, gays, and theys (and straight men, I guess...): BEHOLD! The collab you have all been waiting for - you know her, you love her, you solve her lovely puzzles - it's a KATESCHMATE (of Crosswords Schmosswords fame) MEATDADDY PRODUCTION! 

Firstly, thanks to Kate for reaching out for a collab! I'm always really flattered when people reach out to make a puzzle with me and this was no exception. I really forgot how much I missed making stuff with my friends and crosswords have reminded me what a true joy it is. I also wanna thank Kate for fully enabling (and honestly, showcasing) my chaos - I think we fed off each other's silliness in a really fun way and this is what we wound up with. I think it's perfectly ridiculous in all the right ways and I'm so happy with what we whipped up. Hope you are too!

A word from Kate: "I don't feel like there's much I need to say, since the puzzle quite frankly SPEAKS FOR ITSELF, other than I am so happy meatdaddy was into it when I asked them to collab! This puzzle is dedicated to the wheel. Thank you, wheel."

P.S. - No one test solved this, so any typos are the solver's fault for doubting our ability and intelligence. I can't believe you. Take some accountability, jeez.

P.S.S. - WHEEL! WHEEL! WHEEL! WHEEL!

fullscreen | puz | pdf

Who, Lil' Ole Midi?

source: Niall Breen

Hi! I don't know what this puzzle is. Have it anyway! I tried to experiment with some fun, long fill since I'm usually a bit intimidated by it. I didn't bother having anyone test solve it because I didn't feel like it warrants that, so any typos or whatever are solely on me (as it always is, but like...especially now). 

Hm. On second thought: sometimes it's cathartic to just be like, publicly ugly and bad at something to prove to yourself it's not the end of the world? I guess that's what this is. Not everything needs to be polished.

fullscreen | puz | pdf

Fuck You, Pay Me

Look. Many of you know me as a saint. Maybe even a martyr. This is why I have opted to create this puzzle. I must speak my piece, and what a piece it is.

I have been ignored - nay, robbed - snubbed! - for far too long. I have fought the good fight with the best of intentions, only for my words to fall on stubborn, unlistening ears. I have clawed my way up from the trenches, I have fought my inner demons, I have been a passenger aboard Charon's mighty raft through the deepest pits of Tartarus. I have touched the cold and unrelenting hand of God, and I have returned to you all, bruised, raw, but full of affirmations: I am strong. I am powerful. I am deserving.

This puzzle came to me in a dream, much like the benzene ring appeared in the form of an ouroboros to Kekulé. His vision changed the world, and so will my puzzle.

Thank you to the incomparable Norah for all of her help on this puzzle, and for being my ally on this grueling journey.

SPOILER-Y THINGS:

Evidence of my dedication to the cause (1, 2, 3)

fullscreen | .puz | .pdf

Themeless #Whatever (don't make me count)

 

You all @ me. Screenshot of the fluffiest, most judgemental angel Scotty over at @lacorgi.

Hi all! I don't have much to say about this puzzle other than I hope you enjoy it and that it's probably NSFW. Tryna lean into chaos a bit more than usual (except I decided not to clue 60A as [Grandma's house]) . Thanks to Quiara for the test solve and to Norah for helping me rework the fill!

Also, hey! Pssssst! Check out the AVCXpansion Kickstarter!

fullscreen | .puz | .pdf

SPOILER-Y THINGS:

29A

54A

66A

33D

40D

61D, if you'd like

Do The Math

If you've never gone to a Kaiju Big Battel show, you need to.

There are a multitude of reasons as to why I'm grateful for stumbling into the crossword world, but one of the main ones is that I've met so many incredibly smart people who are willing to lean into (and frankly, enable) my chaos - I firmly believe in the beautiful, masterful execution of insanely dumb ideas and hope to sell you all on it eventually. I also hadn't realized how much I missed making silly stuff with my friends until I started collabing on puzzles.

As always, some thanks are in order: a huge thank you to Alex for reaching out and suggesting we do an acrostic collab (you can make your own here), and a huge thank you to Chris for the test solve! And a quick shoutout to the acrostic generator for producing some nasty fill - I see you, girl. Do your thing.

PS: Go check out the AVCX Kickstarter!

fullscreen solve

SPOILERS (please watch this video in its entirety I swear it's worth it)

Something's Fishy...

WAZZAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!! I know I've been feeling like my head is a bit UNDERWATER, but I've been LURED back into making puzzles with the promise of making something insanely stupid for y'all.

A huge thanks to arctan for the test solve, and to Norah for helping me grid this out! As always, blessed to have your expertise.

Love it? Hate it? Say what you want about it? All of the boys and all of the girls are begging to IF YOU SEEK AMY? Let me know!

PS: PLLLLEAAAASSSEE watch this after you solve.

fullscreen view | .puz | .pdf

SPOILER-Y THINGS:

• 22A
• 34A
• 35A (lol)
• 42A
• 79A (sorry)
• 80A
• 30D (if u wanna buy me one lmk)

Open Up!

meme stolen from menstrualcramps666

 

Hi all. I'll be frank - life has been fucking trash lately. I know I'm not the only one feeling this and sometimes it's just important to take a moment to acknowledge these things and sit with them for a bit. There are some really great bright spots, but shit sucks. Wish it didn't - not only for me, but for you too. Here's to a short winter and long, fruitful spring. Shoutout to Dob of CrossweirdTV for the test solve, and shoutout to Quiara over at QVXWords for making this ass-kicking puzzle that directly inspired this one. Enjoy!

fullscreen view | .puz | .pdf

 

THEMELESS 5: NSFW-ISH EDITION

Hi y'all! Long time no talk! Hope you're all well. I've been a bit swamped with personal stuff lately, so between that and Crossfire continually giving me garbage recommendations despite my best efforts to train it otherwise, I've been putting off making puzzles. I've been working on trying to get more engaging, fun fill and I think this is a pretty solid effort in that vein, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, I wanted to make this puzz a lil horny. I think there's room for horny in puzzles, as there's plenty of room for horny in art (and that's kinda what this all is, isn't it?). I dunno if you can tell, but I am kinda fundamentally unconcerned with Sunday morning tests or puritanical shit in general. I don't mean this in some sort of ~rebellious~ way - I just think that horny shit is a part of life and should be treated as such! I dunno, maybe I prefer a Friday night test: would a three-tequila-sodas-deep-in-the-midst-of-Scorpio-season meatdaddy think this puzzle is fun? Would I laugh? Does this sound like a SATC blog? Okay I'll stop now.

Questions? Comments? Typo alert? MLM propositions? @ me, bro.

Thank you to the unparalled Quiara for test solving and encouraging me to be less afraid to change fill that sucks!

fullscreen view | .puz | .pdf

SPOILER-Y THINGS:

• 57A
• 36D

THEMELESS 4

Keepin' it short and sweet. I simply will not stop. Have this 13x! Special thanks for Frisco and No-feet McGee for being my second third sets of eyes on this - always grateful to have new perspectives on fills and cluing!

fullscreen | .puz | .pdf

SPOILER-Y THINGS:

• 33A
• 8D
• 34D

THEMELESS THREEBIDDY-DEEBIDDY-DEE: THE MOVIE THE SEQUEL THE RIDE

Some of you may be asking (although probably not): meatdaddy (thank you for referring to me by my legal government name), when are you going to make a themed puzzle? The answer is I dunno. Themes usually take me too long to figure out when I solve, even once the puzzle is done. I don't have the eye for them, so I'm not going to haphazardly apply it to my own work to make you all suffer. I'm sparing you all and frankly, I'm insanely benevolent for it. 

Regardless, this is the most recent outcome of me grappling with CrossFire. We have a love/hate relationship but we're working on reaching mutual understanding. I was told this puzzle is a lot harder than my previous ones, which kinda makes sense because I was really influenced by the pithy cluing in this Robin Yu puzzle on QVXWordz. A huge thank you to Dob and Momes of CrossweirdTV for test solving this and giving it much-needed tweaks that elevated the puzz!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Cries of outrage? Write them in your diary and throw it in a river. I'M KIDDINGGGGGGG, you can @ me here or watch my spiels on Twitch. Be nice.

fullscreen view | .puz | .pdf

SPOILER-Y THINGS:

• 10A - like I said, you didn't hear it from me
• 46A - one of my favorite Instagrams
• 71A - note the more "correct" plural
• 7D
• 27D
• 54D